FRENCH PRACTICE IN BLEEDING TREES. 159 



age and the number of trees bled "to death" and bled "alive," as well as on the nature of the 

 soil— the sand soil of the dunes produces more than the gravel and limestone soil. The weather 

 and the care of the workman also influences the yield, so that the product per acre varies 

 between 200 pounds of resin in younger (30 to 35 years old) growths to 400 pounds in older growths. 

 The yield is said to be greatest in trees about 16 inches in diameter. If bled "to death," 200 to 

 250 pines, S inches in diameter, will yield about 500 pounds each year for three years. M. Bagueris 

 mentions a pine about 50 inches in diameter which had 10 chips working simultaneously and 

 yielded 12 to 14 pounds of resin annually. The men are paid by the cask of 517 pounds from $6 

 to $7, which allows them to earn about 80 cents to $1 per day. The price of the crude turpentine 

 varies considerably from $8 per cask of 517 pounds. It reached the enormous figure of $58 during 

 the American civil war. Orcharding in France is usually carried on on half shares between 

 timber-land owner and orchardist. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 



Plate XXX. — Tools used in French practice. * 



The tools employed in the French method of orcharding are: An ax (la cognee) for cutting trees and for remov- 

 ing the coui&e for the chip and for opening the lower cuts. An as with a concave blade and a curved handle 

 (1'abchot); this is the principal tool of the orchardist, and it serves exclusively for the opening of the chips. The 

 "blade is razor-like in order to make a sharp and smooth cut through the resin ducts. The irregular form of its 

 handle and of its sharp edge make it an instrument difficult to manufacture and particularly difficult to use, and it 

 is only after a long apprenticeship that it can be used with exactness and dexterity. (Fig. 1.) 



A. scoop (la pelle) is made of iron, with an edge of steel. It is fixed at the end of a wooden handle about 3 

 feet in length. This serves to clean the bottom part of the chip and particularly to draw out the resin from the 

 reservoirs. Fig. 2.) 



The barker (la barrasquite) has a blade, steel-plated, narrow, and curved, and is furnished with a handle 5 feet 

 long. This instrument is used for barking the trees at the highest point where it is impossible to use the ax, and 

 for gathering the resin from such places. (Fig. 4.) 



Another kind of barker (le rastlet), much edged, having a handle 6 feet long, which is furnished with a step, is 

 used m certain regions to continue the chip above the height of a man. Often the orchardist holds on by the handle 

 of the "rasclet" and works with the hatchet. (Fig. 3.) 



A thiid form of sciaj^er (la pous&e), having a handle 8 feet long, used for the same purpose, has the blade so 

 bent as to permit the worker to stand at a distance fiom the tree, thereby avoiding, while working, the tailing bark 

 and dripping resin. (Fig. 5. ) 



A shorter scraper (le palot), with a handle only 3 feet long, replaces the scoop everywhere where the Hugues 

 system does away with the dirt. It is used for cleaning, and is also used like a dibble at planting time for planting 

 the acorns. (Fig. 6. ) 



A ladder made by cutting steps into a pine sapling, each step being held by a nail to prevent breaking, is used 

 to reach the higher points. 



The products are gathered from the chips or pots to a reservoir established in the forest, in a sort of basket 

 with a capacity of about 20 quarts. It is formed by a cylinder of rough cork surrounded with wood, the bottom 

 being a round slab, made fast with pegs. The handle is of willow. 



A spatula (l'espatula) is used to remove the resin that adheres to the sides of the pots or transporting vessels. 

 (Fig. 7.) 



Plate XXXI. — Turpentine gathering— Hugues system. 



In this i>late fig. 1 exhibits the method of gathering turpentine by the Hugues system, and the use of the till 

 and pot. While foimerly the resin was allowed to run into a hole in tbe sand at the foot of the tree, since 1860, 

 when the production was stimulated by the closing of the American sources of supply, an improvement on the 

 crude method of collecting came into use. It consists in fixing a bent zinc collar or gutter cut from sheet zinc 8 

 inches long and 2 inches wide, with teeth (see figure) across the chip, which acts as a lip, and conducts the liquid 

 resin into a gUzed earthen pot or a zinc vessel of conical shape suspended below the lip. The pots are 6 inches high, 

 4} inches at the opening, and 3 inches at the bottom, and hold about 1 quart. At first placed on the ground they 

 are fastened each season above the old chip by means of a nail through a bole or otherwise (see figure). In this way, 

 by shortening the distance over which the resin has to flow, the evaporation of the oil is reduced, and there is less 

 liability of impurities to fall into the receiver. A cover over the pot is also sometimes used. The pots are emptied 

 every fifteen or twenty days with the aid of a spatula (see PI. XXX, fig. 7). The scrape is collected only twice in 

 the season, in June and November. 



Another improvement which reduces the amount of evaporation and assures cleaner resin consists in covering 

 the chip with a board. This improvement (Hugues system) is said to yield more and purer resin; the yield is 

 claimed to be about one- third larger, and the difference in price, on account of purity, 80 to 90 cents a barrel, while 

 the cost per tiee per year is figured at about 1 cent ; besides, the proportion of scrape is considerably reduced. This 

 (called galipot) is collected by hand, except the haidest impure parts (called barras), of which there is hardly any 



